Singapore Riots by Indian Migrant Workers Follow Fatality

Singapore saw its worst riot in more than 40 years on Monday after a 33-year-old Indian worker was struck and killed by a bus in the City state's Little India district. Some 400 Indian migrant workers began rioting after the incident throwing rocks and setting fire to the bus and other nearby vehicles.

The 55-year-old Singaporean bus driver was hospitalized and about 300 riot police were called in to quell the violence leading to 22 police officers and 5 auxiliary officers being injured, Bloomberg News reported. As a result of the riot police arrested 24 Indian nationals, 2 Bangladeshi nationals and a Singaporean permanent resident.

"There is no excuse for such violent and criminal behavior," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement Monday. "We will spare no effort to identify the culprits and deal with them with the full force of the law."

A witness to the rioting, 69-year-old retiree Basher Marican, told France24.com that the "crowd was clearly drunk".

"They had beer and liquor bottles in their hands and some were throwing them," Marican said. "It was very unruly. I walked passed a crowd along the restaurants. There were some who were cheering others as they attacked the bus."